Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a motion estimation apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a motion estimation apparatus and method capable of decreasing memory bandwidth in motion estimation for image compression.
H.264 is a standard jointly developed by the Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of the International Standard Organization (ISO), which establish international standards for moving pictures. H.264 is aimed at achieving a very high compression ratio and is a general-purpose moving picture coding technique that can be used in most transmission media such as recording media, the Internet, satellite broadcasting, etc., and in various moving picture resolution environments.
Traditionally, ITU has established moving picture standards such as H.261, H.263 and H264, on the basis of wired communication media, and MPEG has standardized MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and the like as standards for processing moving pictures in recording media and broadcasting media.
The MPEG has also standardized an MPEG-4 moving picture standard that is a coding standard used in all types of multimedia, and implements various functions characterized by an object-based moving picture code and a high compression ratio. After the establishment of the MPEG-4 moving picture standard, the VCEG of ITU went on to establish a moving picture standard known as H.26L with high compression performance. In MPEG's official comparison test, H.26L, having the same function as MPEG-4 (advanced simple profile), exhibited a superior compression ratio to MPEG-4.
As a result of the test, the MPEG and the VCEG of ITU joined to form the Joint Video Team (JVT) and developed H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) that is a moving picture standard based on H.26L.
The H.264/AVC has a variety of excellent characteristics. Current markets require a System on Chip (SoC) capable of performing processing with high image quality and high resolution. As the resolution increases, data transmissions between external and internal memories frequently occur, which results in performance degradation of the entire system.
The technical configuration described above is a background art for better understanding of the present invention, but is not a prior art well-known in the technical field pertinent to the present invention.